I love the fact that your lesson is applicable to real life situations, this is a lesson that your students will be able to use throughout the rest of their lives. I think you giving them an actual map to draw is perfect, they are also learning about scales in this lesson which is very good integration of both Math and Social Studies skills.
I have one suggestion; I would let them put symbols on their maps as well. You can ask them to make note of the things they pass on their way home. So that they can add them to their maps, after which they can make a key to represent the symbols. You also have a good integration of technology.
Good job
Scott's Reflection to Cheri's lesson I like the apllication of map skills. This is still an important skill for students even with gps units and online mapquest. Like Sue said I like the real life application for the students. Will you have to instruct the students on how to use Mapquest?
One thing you might want to try is have the students draw a map from their home to school on paper first and then have them go to Mapquest to see how accurate they might be.
Scott
Thanks Scott. I will have to walk them through how to use Mapquest. Great point. I also like the idea of the paper pencil idea first. I think it would be interesting to have them do it from memory first, then when they travel home, then Mapquest.
Heather to Cheri I, too, think this is a wonderful way of incorporating technology into your lesson AND making the content relevant, meaningful, and more realistic. When a lesson has all of these characteristics, students usually respond better and have positive results in the end. Mapquest is such an awesome tool that I have found helpful in more than one situation– especially when I was in high school and first started driving. Scott brings up a great question about whether you will have to instruct your students about how to use Mapquest. Although, I think 5th graders will be able to catch on quite quickly, especially since it is supposed to be a user friendly site. Even though new technology like iPhones make "map-reading" obsolete, I think it is still an important skill students need to know. As wonderful as our cell phones are, they do have their inconvenient moments of not working. Scott's idea of having them make a map from their house to the school would be a great way of pre-assessing where your students are at with this subject. Great lesson!
Thanks Heather. Map reading is an essential tool that students need to have and it is slowly becoming less and less taught with the technology we have. But what if we lost that technology?
Lesson 2
Rubric for Evaluation
I realized that I didn't proof my rubric enough. Here is the revised rubric:
CATEGORY
4
3
2
1
Initial Post
Student’s initial post contained five or more sentences.
….contained four sentences.
….contained two-three sentences.
….contained one sentence.
Response to Other Students Posts
All responses were respectful and were in appropriate language and were written in well constructed comments.
All responses were respectful and were in appropriate language.
Most statements and responses were respectful and in appropriate language, but there was one sarcastic remark.
Statements, were not respectful.
Information
All information presented in the debate was clear, accurate and thorough.
Most information presented in the debate was clear, accurate and thorough.
Most information presented in the debate was clear and accurate, but was not usually thorough.
Information had several inaccuracies OR was usually not clear.
Rebuttal
All counter-arguments were accurate, relevant and strong.
Most counter-arguments were accurate, relevant, and strong.
Most counter-arguments were accurate and relevant, but several were weak.
Counter-arguments were not accurate and/or relevant
Use of Facts/Statistics
Every major point was well supported with several relevant facts, statistics and/or examples.
Every major point was adequately supported with relevant facts, statistics and/or examples.
Every major point was supported with facts, statistics and/or examples, but the relevance of some was questionable.
Every point was not supported.
Organization
All arguments were clearly tied to an idea (premise) and organized in a tight, logical fashion.
Most arguments were clearly tied to an idea (premise) and organized in a tight, logical fashion.
All arguments were clearly tied to an idea (premise) but the organization was sometimes not clear or logical.
Arguments were not clearly tied to an idea (premise).
Understanding of Topic
Student clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented their information forcefully and convincingly.
Student clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented their information with ease.
Student seemed to understand the main points of the topic and presented those with ease.
Student did not show an adequate understanding of the topic.
Sue to Cheri
I love your topic, I think the students are enjoying the debate as well. You could expand on this lesson even more by doing a grade level debate. Or they could perform for persons in their year group.
Jonathon to Cheri,
I agree with Sue: great topic choice. It might get a little personal though. My biggest concern is always how do you intend to "police" there behavior online such that no child gets bullied for their opinion should it happen to run contrary to the rest of the group? Also, are you worried that the students may not give you their full opinion to spare your own feelings; i.e., you are a teacher, what if they feel you are fully replaceable? If so, do you have a plan to get the students to be honest with their opinions irrespective of the audience?
I hope it goes well. I would love to read the students work when their done if all goes well. If you can/don't mind sharing the wiki when it is finished.
Thank you so much. Cheri, I like the real life application of debate this has for your students. I think the topic might be difficult for the students since they probably have never taken an online class. The debate might be one sided but I do agree with Jonathon about two areas. The first is are students going to be truthfull with you since you are their teacher. Will they think they are hurting your feelings if they want an online teacher? The second area is the bullying issue. Today I was in a meeting that discussed bullying and most of it in our school is the online social media type of bullying. So this is a big issue and something to consider. Scott
Thanks Jonathon and Scott, It actually went very well. I think it makes a difference since I monitor all discussion and since we are in a private school, most of the kids have the same values. I also changed the debate topic to "Should kids have TV's and computers in their classroom" I realized that the other topic was a bit above their heads. We talked about how to correct each other (spelling and grammar) and how to disagree without arguing. I will post their debate on a the new thread off to the right. I will change their names to protect their privacy.
:) Cheri
Dequency to Cheri
This is a wonderful idea for 5th graders! They are beginning to think independently and want to take a stand. The best part is there is no right or wrong answer for them. They are being taught to value one another for the opinion that they bring to the table. What did the parents think of this activity? Did you have students who wanted to continue with other subjects for debate>
Cheri to Dequency: Yes, they are pretty excited and want to do more. We are going to do one in the classroom and I have thought about checking with the other schools to see if we could come and watch a debate team practice or compete.
Final Summary:
I really like the GAME plan and I have found it incredibly helpful in planning lessons. For me the most effective part of it was the Evaluate and Extend. I always end up learning from the lessons I teach how to do it better. Often, I will ask the students, "How could such and such have been better?" The students come up with the best answers.
I have learned many things this course and I am excited about implementing them into my curriculum. The one I am most excited about is the Digital Storybook that we are starting after Christmas break. My class LOVES to write and they will really enjoy using Storybird.
I think the GAME PLAN would work really well with students. I think that they need to learn how to use those tools. So often we teach them to Set Goals and even to Take Action, but we forget about Monitoring Progress and also the Evaluate and Extend. Sometimes the Evaluate part comes externally from the instructor, but it really needs to also come from the student as well. I am trying to figure out how to use it in my classroom. I think I will teach them how to use it and let them practice by sharing their plans with a small group.
From this course, I have already begun adding more technology to my classes, especially with writing. My students love working together online and technology allows them to do that. They enjoy getting online to edmondo.com and posting questions and "chatting" with one another. They call it their "Facebook". We also use Kidblog (www.kidblog.com) for many projects from Science to History and also writing.
Sue's Reflection to Cheri's lesson
I love the fact that your lesson is applicable to real life situations, this is a lesson that your students will be able to use throughout the rest of their lives. I think you giving them an actual map to draw is perfect, they are also learning about scales in this lesson which is very good integration of both Math and Social Studies skills.
I have one suggestion; I would let them put symbols on their maps as well. You can ask them to make note of the things they pass on their way home. So that they can add them to their maps, after which they can make a key to represent the symbols.
You also have a good integration of technology.
Good job
Scott's Reflection to Cheri's lesson
I like the apllication of map skills. This is still an important skill for students even with gps units and online mapquest. Like Sue said I like the real life application for the students. Will you have to instruct the students on how to use Mapquest?
One thing you might want to try is have the students draw a map from their home to school on paper first and then have them go to Mapquest to see how accurate they might be.
Scott
Thanks Scott. I will have to walk them through how to use Mapquest. Great point. I also like the idea of the paper pencil idea first. I think it would be interesting to have them do it from memory first, then when they travel home, then Mapquest.
Heather to Cheri
I, too, think this is a wonderful way of incorporating technology into your lesson AND making the content relevant, meaningful, and more realistic. When a lesson has all of these characteristics, students usually respond better and have positive results in the end. Mapquest is such an awesome tool that I have found helpful in more than one situation– especially when I was in high school and first started driving. Scott brings up a great question about whether you will have to instruct your students about how to use Mapquest. Although, I think 5th graders will be able to catch on quite quickly, especially since it is supposed to be a user friendly site. Even though new technology like iPhones make "map-reading" obsolete, I think it is still an important skill students need to know. As wonderful as our cell phones are, they do have their inconvenient moments of not working. Scott's idea of having them make a map from their house to the school would be a great way of pre-assessing where your students are at with this subject. Great lesson!
Thanks Heather. Map reading is an essential tool that students need to have and it is slowly becoming less and less taught with the technology we have. But what if we lost that technology?
Lesson 2
Rubric for Evaluation
I realized that I didn't proof my rubric enough. Here is the revised rubric:
Sue to Cheri
I love your topic, I think the students are enjoying the debate as well. You could expand on this lesson even more by doing a grade level debate. Or they could perform for persons in their year group.
Jonathon to Cheri,
I agree with Sue: great topic choice. It might get a little personal though. My biggest concern is always how do you intend to "police" there behavior online such that no child gets bullied for their opinion should it happen to run contrary to the rest of the group? Also, are you worried that the students may not give you their full opinion to spare your own feelings; i.e., you are a teacher, what if they feel you are fully replaceable? If so, do you have a plan to get the students to be honest with their opinions irrespective of the audience?
I hope it goes well. I would love to read the students work when their done if all goes well. If you can/don't mind sharing the wiki when it is finished.
Thank you so much.
Cheri,
I like the real life application of debate this has for your students. I think the topic might be difficult for the students since they probably have never taken an online class. The debate might be one sided but I do agree with Jonathon about two areas. The first is are students going to be truthfull with you since you are their teacher. Will they think they are hurting your feelings if they want an online teacher? The second area is the bullying issue. Today I was in a meeting that discussed bullying and most of it in our school is the online social media type of bullying. So this is a big issue and something to consider.
Scott
Thanks Jonathon and Scott,
It actually went very well. I think it makes a difference since I monitor all discussion and since we are in a private school, most of the kids have the same values. I also changed the debate topic to "Should kids have TV's and computers in their classroom" I realized that the other topic was a bit above their heads. We talked about how to correct each other (spelling and grammar) and how to disagree without arguing. I will post their debate on a the new thread off to the right. I will change their names to protect their privacy.
:) Cheri
Dequency to Cheri
This is a wonderful idea for 5th graders! They are beginning to think independently and want to take a stand. The best part is there is no right or wrong answer for them. They are being taught to value one another for the opinion that they bring to the table. What did the parents think of this activity? Did you have students who wanted to continue with other subjects for debate>
Cheri to Dequency: Yes, they are pretty excited and want to do more. We are going to do one in the classroom and I have thought about checking with the other schools to see if we could come and watch a debate team practice or compete.
Final Summary:
I really like the GAME plan and I have found it incredibly helpful in planning lessons. For me the most effective part of it was the Evaluate and Extend. I always end up learning from the lessons I teach how to do it better. Often, I will ask the students, "How could such and such have been better?" The students come up with the best answers.
I have learned many things this course and I am excited about implementing them into my curriculum. The one I am most excited about is the Digital Storybook that we are starting after Christmas break. My class LOVES to write and they will really enjoy using Storybird.
I think the GAME PLAN would work really well with students. I think that they need to learn how to use those tools. So often we teach them to Set Goals and even to Take Action, but we forget about Monitoring Progress and also the Evaluate and Extend. Sometimes the Evaluate part comes externally from the instructor, but it really needs to also come from the student as well. I am trying to figure out how to use it in my classroom. I think I will teach them how to use it and let them practice by sharing their plans with a small group.
From this course, I have already begun adding more technology to my classes, especially with writing. My students love working together online and technology allows them to do that. They enjoy getting online to edmondo.com and posting questions and "chatting" with one another. They call it their "Facebook". We also use Kidblog (www.kidblog.com) for many projects from Science to History and also writing.